Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-05-13
THE AMERICAS CUP
The scotch Yacht Thistle which will
Contest for it.

The Thistle. which was built by syndicate CT
Scotch yachtsnNen, to win the Americas Cup, was
launched on the Clyde on April "a. The New York
SUI, publishes the following description OF her:
She has clipper stem, topped with large thistle
in lieu of ngurehead the scroll OF the trail boards
being relieved with theH arms and motto OF the
Scottish nation: Memo nv iplpune 'ucessit. The
hull Is constructed OF Sieme Os-Mart1n mild steel,
the lead keel ballast being rLu into the circular
keel plate, instead Of being boUed solid on the
outside, as is usually done. Her Wasts are made
OF finest oregon pine sticks. In We designing OF
this vessel Mr.. G. L. Watson has considerably
departed from his earlier famous ~acnts-van-
duara, Wendur, and Martorie-the Th \stie having
much more beam than either Of the vac. us named
She is much rOunder On the side, and h IS mare
up from the lOad-water line toward the IA Y, Wnlcn
will be OF great advantage to her In stan0 vg Inc
enormous press OF canvass which 1t Is III Sended
hang Of stem and stern, which VIII enable hte to
carry her head sails well forward, which, OF
course, will necesitate the mast being stepped
yachts This arrangement Will give an exec -
tionally large matnsail The Thistie's dimenriOnA
are: Length on load-water line, IS feet; ieA'th.
per customs, 80 feet; breadth, extreme 20.3 Iaet;
depth, AL feet; tonnage, 100 tons.
WHAT SCOTCH PAPER SAYS
The Scottish Ne,os has the following: The Ameri-
ca Cup has now been in the possession Of the
United States for thirty years. and our builders
cannot, therefore, be said TO have been In any
hurry TO adopt novelties in the way of yacht
building. They have, on the contrary, adhered
to their own models and their own ideas of what
going qualities to racing speed. When the Amer
lea came over In 1851, she carried off the cup after
beating the whole feet OF English yachts. Her
victory was so decisive that no attempt to bring
the cup home was made until 1870, when the
Cambria tried and failed. In the following year
Livonia tried to wrest the trophy from America,
and was also defeated Then came the similarly
futile efforts OF the Canadian Countess OF Duf-
ferin in 1875, Of the ATLANTA in 1881. OF the
GeneSta In 1885, and OF the Galatea I'm 1886. In
each OF these cases America won because the
American model Of fast yacht for inshore racing,
as distinguished from an ocean racer. was supe-
rtor to the British We do not assert the defeated
yacht, In any instance, represented the British
empire, and at that point we touch most
Questionable anomaly attaching to this CON-
fenge to the United States, although there
may be half q dozen faster yachts at home
cup. Thereafter he meets a yacht, Carefully
selected after competitive trial. to represent trans
atlantic yachtsmen, as, for The time being, the
to Our general conclusions as to the respective
models, we admit that the result might have been
different in some OF the bygone matches had the
by reason OF superior speed been sent to represent
Great Britain in really international race. The
present usage. 1t Is open US TO any one else,
to forecast her speed from her dimensions But the
the clyde before she has touched the water. We
may commend her design as marking a new de-
parture IN the right direction, even Il we doubt
lea. The point is that she has not been tried and
cannot be tried, either In q breeze gale while
hereafter be seen to be inevitable. As the business
is now conducted the race for the cup satisfies
neither the Briton nor the American. The Thistle
one as we admit. II she bring home the America
cup, we aad every Brfton will be pleased; II she
home Without 81 we shall R nshef be
Stars and Stripes.